Survived Westgate Sales Pitch Here is My Advice

[memorykeeper]

At the last minute I found myself short 1 days ticket for my vacation so reluctantly I signed up to tour Westgate so I could get 3 single day tickets for $50 total. (can't beat that price) Well at Westgate Vacation Villas (beautiful resort) we happened to get a salesperson who understood that we were not there to buy and shared the secret to getting out alive. The advice was to tell them you love it and would buy it if they could work it out so that you only had to pay $80 a month. They simply can't go that low. The cheapest unit there works out to about $139 a month. Sure enough we tried it and it worked. They sent over the required 2nd and 3rd person to try and wear us down but no one could go that low and we got our tickets after only wasting four hours of our day. I hated wasting even that much time but we really needed to save a few pennies on this trip since it was our 2nd one in four months. So if your Orlando vacation includes a Westgate visit I hope this advice is helpful to you.

 

[scanmom]

4 hours? That seem like a really long time for a timeshare pitch! I thought they were usually an hour and a half to two hrs..max.
I would have told them flat out no. And not shown ANY interest at all. Then at the time limit (they always have one), I would have said, give me my tix, I'm outta here!!

 

[Brian Noble]

I find the easiest way to get out of them is to not go into them in the first place.

 

[HeatherPage]

Okay, snowdoubtaboutit should be along any minute to tell you what a wonderful company they are and what a great opportunity you missed out on.

 

[4formickey]

just tell them that you own at disney and only want their free tickets. Repeat to every saleperson and you will leavein the 1 1/2 hours. It gets you out of any salepitch.

 

[memorykeeper]

I find the easiest way to get out of them is to not go into them in the first place.

I agree 100% but we had some free tickets that fell through and we needed to stay within our budget. We were there for four hours because the 90 minutes starts when they assign you to a sales shark not when you arrive. We waited about an hour since Westgate books about 250 or more of these tours a day and then we waited in line in the "gifting suite" for about 30 - 40 minutes. It wasn't a total lost since our child was happily being entertained back at FW where we were camping with friends.

 

[spartn1]

I'm confident we won't be there 4 hours though. If you are unwavering from the start you can usually get out very close to the 90 minutes. This will be the 4th or 5th tour DW and I have taken. It can be fun if you are absolutely sure you will not buy anything when you go in. We already own a timeshare and although we love a lot of things about it we will not be buying another one anytime soon. Take a watch with you and verify with the host when the 90 minutes starts.

 

[Lucky4me]

4 hours?!
My goodness that is a huge chunk of the day when you're on vacation.
Next time bring your child. Tell the child when you give the signal, they need to say they think they're going to be sick. You'll have your tickets and be out the door in 30 seconds flat.
Just kidding, but I bet it would work.

 

[kjetjl]

4 hours?!
My goodness that is a huge chunk of the day when you're on vacation.
Next time bring your child. Tell the child when you give the signal, they need to say they think they're going to be sick. You'll have your tickets and be out the door in 30 seconds flat.
Just kidding, but I bet it would work.

We had friends go to one of these in Feb. and their 4 year old daughter did vomit.....and they still were not "released" for 6 hours. Yikes!!!

 

[wdwdancerwannabe]

I find the easiest way to get out of them is to not go into them in the first place.

AMEN, Sister!!

We avoid these things like the plague!! We go to Branson a lot and those kinds of pitches are everywhere!!

I went up to a kiosk one time thinkin' I was asking about tickets for a show (which I was) - and they tried to whee me in w/ a "you can have free tickets if you attend....."

I said, "no thanks! --- I'd rather pay for my tickets then sit through that mess". We go on vacation MAYBE once every three years --- I certainly don't have 4 hours of my vacation time to spare!!

 

[Abharmagic]

WOW- 4 HOURS!!!

Mariotts was REALLY 90 mins and we got 4 nights of 2 Bedroom Villa at Cypress Harbour and 2- 2 day MYW Adult tickets for $299.

I really don't know if 4 Hours and being passed to 3 people is worth my time and effort- and I"m CHEAP!!!!

Glad it worked out for you

 

[memorykeeper]

Westgate is notorious for this type of thing and I knew what to expect when I signed up. The actual presentation was about 90 minutes but they make you wait a long time past your appointment time and then you have to wait again in line for your free whatever. We asked to be sent to another resort but our guy said he only had Westgate available for the AM. We vacation often so it wasn't a huge loss to us but I won't make a habit of it that's for sure.

 

[spartn1]

We tour on June 12th at 8am and I'm bringing a stopwatch and some antsy kids!

 

[TotoToo]

Don't play the game. When you arrive say "I'm here on time and the 90 minutes has started. The time is X:XX". Then when the weasel shows up DON'T eat (they won't count that time) and repeat "We've been waiting since X:XX so you've already used :XX of your 90 minutes. Better get to the point". Look at your watch often and repeat the warning at 10 min, 5 minutes and then stand up and say "Where is the gifting area? The 90 minutes we were promised is up. We're not buying". Do not sit again and just keep asking. Louder. You will get out.

We enjoy playing Weasel tag (just had a session with a Wyndham Weasel today - score Weasel $0 / Tototoo $25 for 25 minutes).

 

[JuneChickie]

Don't play the game. When you arrive say "I'm here on time and the 90 minutes has started. The time is X:XX". Then when the weasel shows up DON'T eat (they won't count that time) and repeat "We've been waiting since X:XX so you've already used :XX of your 90 minutes. Better get to the point". Look at your watch often and repeat the warning at 10 min, 5 minutes and then stand up and say "Where is the gifting area? The 90 minutes we were promised is up. We're not buying". Do not sit again and just keep asking. Louder. You will get out.

We enjoy playing Weasel tag (just had a session with a Wyndham Weasel today - score Weasel $0 / Tototoo $25 for 25 minutes).

I tried to do that and I was told the 90 minutes didn't start till
the actual presentation started.

This is after the guy sat down while we ate our bowls of cereal
and whipped out his family album.
then after that the speal , then after 2 hours I said ok times up , uh NO , the person said
excuse me , *I though he had to go potty* and then here comes
someone else. I said our time is up and we weren't buying, then
this new person ups and offers us a return for 7 days for X amount
of dollars. we said no thanks wheres the tickets? She says shes
going to get them and is GONE for the longest time , then someone
else comes over and says if he can do better than so and so , drops
the price 15,000 dollars ,, we said no and please go get the tickets.
over 4 hours later , we get our tickets.

Never again.

oh and we did do one more , did not eat, when the guy whipped out
the family album with pics of kids/dogs/ house , we said please
just get to the 90 min. part and so he did.
over 3 hours later , we got those tickets

Each of these times , we had 3 little kids. The 2nd time we told
them to whine and keep asking when we were going to get to
leave and to say they are thirsty, wheres the toys , etc. The kids were great.
The salesperson/people , nope that didn't work. I think they
do training on how to tune out your kids too.

Has anyone ever told them you were just there for the tickets
and stuck to that ?

 

[spartn1]

Fortunately we are in Orlando for 11 full days...even if it does take longer than the 90 minutes, I saved $350 on our 5 Orlando Flextickets...that's $87 an hour if the presentation goes 4 hours.

 

[Belle1962]

....and we got our tickets after only wasting four hours of our day.

I do agree that if you are in a pinch you can do a timeshare tour. I would just avoid Westgate. I've even done it myself. Only you can decied if the time is worth the investment.

You can sign up for Marriott at the hotel lobbies of the Marriott's in downtown dinsey (and probably all of them in the area) and for Hilton at the outdoor kiosk at the Premium Outlet malls.

I wrote a review several years ago on about 4 or 5 timeshare pitches and Marriott and Hilton were by far the 'winners" as far as no/low pressure and time commitment.

 

[Lewisc]

Say yes after just 5 minutes, sign up and get your tickets. On your way back to Disney stop by the post office and drop off your certified mail cancellation letter.

 

[HeatherPage]

Lewisc, I like your style

 

[memorykeeper]

I've tried it all and they don't care about your kids or your time. They know that after several hours you're liable to buy anything just to shut them up. The best advice I've gotten was in my original post which is to say you love it but can only afford to pay some really low amount. We chose $80 a month but you could go lower. Westgate is never going to get you out of there in 90 minutes but at least you won't have to keep saying the same thing over and over again. To some people it's not worth the trouble but to me it can actually be a liitle fun and the resorts are really pretty.